This invention relates to dental cleaning, and, in particular to a dental cleaning unit which includes both a scaler and an airpolisher wherein the scaler and polisher are controlled from a single control box. It also relates to improvements in the airpolisher portion of the unit.
The use of a scaler and airpolisher to clean teeth is well known in the art. Often dental technicians, hygienists, or dentists (referred to herein collectively as hygienists) will use both a scaler and a polisher on a single patient and will switch between the two devices. Prior art scalers and polishers are often separately controlled. The control box therefore includes multiple controls, which are disadvantageous both because their adjustment requires close attention by the hygienist and because they are are difficult to clean. The control boxes have also been generally bulky and difficult to disinfect.
More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,152 to Warrin et al shows a single handpiece with interchangeable scaler and polisher heads. With this device, the switching back and forth between the two heads, will cause the junction between the handpiece and the head to become loose and the handpiece and/or the heads will have to be replaced so that there will again be a tight fit. Further, a hygienist will want to do as little switching as possible. Thus, instead of using the scaler and polisher on each tooth as he or she goes along, the hygienist will use the scaler on every tooth and then polish all the teeth with the polisher. By only changing instruments once, instead of cleaning each tooth with both instruments, the patient's teeth will not be cleaned as well.
In prior art airpolishing systems, a jar holding the abrasive must be refilled by pouring the abrasive particles into the jar. Some of these prior art abrasive containers are hoppers having air/abrasive inputs at their bottom. These containers require cleaning at the end of the day in order to prevent the system from clogging To clean the container the hygienist must remove the container, with all its tubes attached, from its control box and follow a series of detailed instructions. This cleaning process is tedious, time-consuming, and messy. Other prior art containers do not empty evenly over time. Rather, they have heavy abrasive flow initially and the flow tapers off as the container empties.